‘VOTE LATE’ HAPPENING THROUGHOUT THE U.S.: Urging voters to go to the polls late on Election Day hasn’t only happened in Maryland. In neighboring Pennsylvania, a close ally of Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano says that voters casting their ballots “as late in the day as possible” on Election Day will help win him the election and prevent voter fraud. This is echoed in various states throughout the country. Kira Lerner/Maryland Matters.
ANALYSIS: REPUBLICANS’ VOTE LATE STRATEGY MISINFORMED: The idea here is that “hackers,” people somehow controlling what the electronic voting machines will produce, will be flummoxed by a late surge in votes for Republican candidates. This, like so many other unsupported conspiracy theories in modern America, is largely born of ignorance about technology. This purported algorithm, for example, needs to do nothing more complex than set Democratic vote total to Republican vote total plus one. Philip Bump/The Washington Post.
POLICE PRESENCE: FOR SAFETY OR VOTER INTIMIDATION? With schools closed for Election Day, Carroll County Sheriff’s Office’s School Resource Officers will be working near county polling places, ready to help if needed at the polls Tuesday, Sheriff Jim DeWees said. The sheriff made it clear, though, that there will be no marked patrol cars or uniformed officers stationed all day at election sites. Sherry Greenfield/The Carroll County Times.
- Reports of an increased police presence outside an early voting center in a diverse part of Harford County last week have prompted concerns about voter intimidation. In response, the county sheriff’s office said it places one officer on detail at polling places for safety and reemphasized guidelines to all officers about their responsibilities. Maria Morales/The Aegis.
MARYLAND DEMS BELIEVE ABORTION ACCESS ISSUE OF MAJORITY: Nationally, Democrats have hammered the fragility of abortion rights, capitalizing on discontent that the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade to turn out midterm voters in what would otherwise be difficult political head winds. But in deep blue Maryland, where abortion rights have been secured in state law for three decades, Democrats have bet big that abortion outrage can still yield political gains and one of their targets is Republican Del. Sid Saab. Erin Cox/The Washington Post.
New criteria for the move of the FBI headquarters, now in D.C., is that it be close to Quantico, the training center for agents. Photo by SammySix with Flickr Creative Commons License
MARYLAND OFFICIALS SAY CRITERIA FOR NEW FBI HQ DISADVANTAGES PG: Prince George’s County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks and an assemblage of Maryland leaders on Friday publicly questioned criteria for picking a new Federal Bureau of Investigations headquarters site that they said advantaged Virginia. Lateshia Beacham/The Washington Post.
- Maryland’s elected leaders at all levels were blindsided by the updated scoring system put out by the General Services Administration as it gets ready to choose the site of a new FBI headquarters. Several of them took turns blasting those changes, while also focusing on the president’s pledge to make the federal government more equitable, which was issued through an executive order on Day One. John Domen/WTOP-FM.
- Of three sites on a short list, Prince George’s County is home to two — Greenbelt and Largo. But after a decade of work to select a new location, federal officials added proximity to Quantico as another criteria and Maryland leaders said that favors a finalist in Virginia. Bryan Sears/The Daily Record.
BIDEN TO RALLY IN BOWIE, NOT COLUMBIA: President Joe Biden’s rally on the day before the midterm elections will be in Bowie, according to an email sent by the Democratic Party to possible attendees. The White House had announced earlier t Monday’s rally — in which Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore and other leading Democratic candidates are to appear — would be in Columbia. Jeff Barker/The Baltimore Sun.
ON THE CUSP OF MAKING HISTORY: Only two Black people — Deval Patrick in Massachusetts and L. Douglas Wilder in Virginia — have been elected governor in American history. Now, Maryland voters are poised to elect a third, Democrat Wes Moore, after resoundingly rejecting Black statewide candidates for decades — except as junior partners to White men. Ovetta Wiggins/The Washington Post.
FINAL PITCHES FOR MARYLAND’s TOP SPOTS: Offered dramatically different paths for the future of Maryland policy and politics, voters this week will pick a new slate of leaders in Annapolis as the race to succeed Republican Gov. Larry Hogan tops a ballot filled with state, federal and local contests. Sam Janesch and Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
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- Dan Cox, the 48-year-old Republican lawyer and state delegate, is widely seen to be facing an uphill battle against Democrat Wes Moore in the race to succeed Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. Two days from Election Day, Cox received warm welcomes from many voters — but also some jeers — in his home base of Frederick County during the parade. Sam Janesch/The Baltimore Sun.
- Wes Moore swayed in the pew, hands lifted as he sang along with the choir: “When nothing else could help, love lifted me!” The Democratic nominee for governor of Maryland spent the last Sunday of the fall campaign worshipping at a pair of Prince George’s County churches and urging congregants to vote on Tuesday. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
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MD GOP GOES INTO ELECTION DAY FRACTURED: Republicans are more fractured than the Democrats headed into the general election. Cox is endorsed by former President Donald Trump but has been characterized by Maryland’s popular and term-limited Republican Gov. Larry Hogan as a “QAnon whack job.” Attorney general candidate Michael Peroutka is a former member of the League of the South, which is labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Harford County Executive Barry Glassman, the party’s nominee for comptroller, has distanced himself from the other GOP nominees and is endorsed by Hogan. Danielle Gaines/Maryland Matters.
TRONE FACES TOUGHER RACE THIS TIME AROUND: It may be harder this time around for the U.S. Rep. David Trone to keep his seat representing Maryland’s 6th congressional District against Republican challenger and state Del. Neil Parrott. In 2020, Trone beat Parrott for the seat by a 20 percentage point margin when the district was solidly Democratic. It still ‘leans Democratic’ even after new lines were drawn this year, according to the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Scott Maucione/WYPR-FM.
MOONEY AIMS AT MANCHIN: It was only 12 years ago that Alex Mooney was a three-term state senator from Frederick County and chair of the Maryland Republican Party. Then he moved across the Potomac to West Virginia, where he ran for Congress and won in 2014. He’s cruising to his fifth term there after defeating another incumbent congressman this year due to West Virginia’s loss of a House seat. Now he’s eyeing the Senate seat of Democrat Joe Manchin. And BTW, state Republican Sen. Mike Hough, now in a race for Frederick County executive, has been Mooney’s chief of staff on the Hill. Leah Willingham/The Associated Press.
AS LATINO POPULATION GROWS, SO DOES ITS POLITICAL POWER: Nicholas Simões Machado thinks it’s time for the Maryland Democratic Party to step up its game when it comes to Latino voters. Machado said Democrats need to lay the groundwork now for a more powerful voting bloc in the next few years. Maya Lora and Dana Munro/The Baltimore Sun.
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- Nearly 6% of eligible Maryland voters are Latino, according to Pew Research Center. Latino residents now make up 12% of the population in the state, up from about 8% in 2010. The largest communities are concentrated in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, which are about 20% Latino. Every county in the state saw an increase in Latino residents between 2010 and 2020. Alissa Zhu/The Baltimore Banner.
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ASIAN POPULATION, VOTING STRENGTH & DIVERSITY GROWS: Maryland candidates and campaigns need to recognize the growing Asian American population in the state, and they need to understand that such voters come from diverse backgrounds and experiences, according to state Sen. Clarence Lam, chair of the Maryland Legislative Asian-American and Pacific-Islander Caucus. Alissa Zhu/The Baltimore Banner.
Wellness consultants Sydney Gavigan, left, and Jenny Simmons at Greenhouse Wellness in Ellicott City. Photo courtesy of Leslie Apgar
RX POT DISPENSARIES PRIME FOR RECREATIONAL CANNABIS CUSTOMERS: As voters are preparing to vote on a constitutional amendment ballot question that would let adults 21 and older use cannabis recreationally, medical marijuana dispensaries are readying their business plans to expand their customer base. Meg Tully/MarylandReporter.com.
VISA PROGRAM TO AID STATE CRAB INDUSTRY: Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, both Democrats, have announced a visa program for the 2023 fiscal year that aims to temporarily aid the staffing shortage that will help Maryland’s important crab and seafood industry. The Department of Homeland Security will provide 130,716 H-2B visas in the 2023 fiscal year, made up of 66,000 that are annually released and 64,716 additional visas. Cardin and Van Hollen said in a statement that they are seeking a permanent solution to the lack of visas in the H-2B program. Grace Yarrow of CNS/MarylandReporter.com.
BALTIMORE MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO JAN. 6 CHARGE: A Baltimore man who joined the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, pleaded guilty Friday to a federal criminal charge and faces up to five years in prison for his part in the attack. Staff/The Baltimore Sun.
COURT SAYS APPEAL OF SYED PROCEEDING CAN MOVE FORWARD: An appeal of the court proceedings that freed Adnan Syed from prison filed by the family of the murder victim in the case chronicled in the true-crime podcast “Serial” can move forward, Maryland’s intermediate appellate court ruled Friday. Staff/The Associated Press.
HISTORIAN LOUIS DIGGS DIES AT 90: Louis Diggs, a historian and author who dedicated nearly three decades to researching and writing about African American history in Baltimore County, has died. He was 90. Cadence Quartana/The Baltimore Banner.
